City Council to Examine Pedicab Industry Reforms

The New York City Council is looking into implementing sweeping reforms to the city’s pedicab industry, based on a package of recommendations that promise to combat tourist rip-offs and improve working conditions for pedicab drivers alike.

The reform package has been proposed by a group known as the Midtown Community Justice Center, and was designed with significant help from Upper West Side City Council Member Gale Brewer’s office and organizations such as the Central Park Conservancy.

“New York City’s pedicab industry is fundamentally broken. In its current form, it works for no one,” a summary on the reform package bluntly declares.

A rundown of pedicab-related horrors is included in said summary: exploitation of pedicab drivers by “fleet owners who operate underground rental businesses,” tourists getting bilked for short rides, and pedestrians walking through Central Park and the Theater District experiencing congestion and a wave of solicitation.

The solutions to these problems, the authors of the report say, lies in shifting from police enforcement against individual pedicab drivers to “structural regulatory reform.”

“Enforcement is inconsistent, resource-intensive, and often misdirected at drivers rather than business owners who control vehicles, pricing practices, and working conditions,” they explain. “High dismissal rate in court further undermine deterrence.”

The reform package comes with a list of eight fixes, listed below:

*Move Industry Oversight from Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC)

Standardize Rates and Mandate Meters

*Hold Vehicle Owners Accountable (in reference to those who rent vehicles to pedicab drivers)

*Legalize Safe Electric Motors and Ban Unsafe Ones

*Create a Consistent Civil Enforcement

*Reform Court Processes

*Create Basic Driver Support Infrastructure

*Ensure Accessible Insurance Premiums to Encourage Legal Operation

Despite a 2009 law instituting a citywide legal cap of 850 pedicabs, the report estimates that more 1,500 pedicabs are currently operating in New York City, which means that a significant amount of unlicensed pedicabs are currently in usage.

The city’s 311 system received a total of 172 complaints related to pedicabs last year, 35 of which were reporting unlicensed operators, with 86 complaints connected to overcharging.

The topline recommendation of moving oversight to the TLC, the report says, will reduce the aforementioned chaos in the pedicab industry by requiring the streamlining of license applications and license renewals. This would also require safe driving training, as well as the creation of license plate barcodes that will connect vehicle registration to their owners.

““For too long, the City’s approach to the pedicab industry has been inconsistent and ineffective, creating problems for public safety, consumers, and drivers while burdening enforcement,” Council Member Brewer said in a statement. “We need to start over because what we have now does not work for anybody, and New Yorkers, visitors, and drivers all deserve better.”

Council Speaker Julie Menin, who represents the Upper East Side, issued a statement of support for the reform package as well.

“The Council looks forward to reviewing the proposed legislative solutions and to identifying other collaborative measures that help protect the city’s tourists and residents, midtown businesses and drivers alike,” she said.

The reform push is running parallel to a campaign to pass a fairly similar City Council bill, which would essentially ban pedicab drivers from getting within 50 feet of an entrance or exit to any theater within the Theater District.